How to organize a hillclimb?

So I will put this solidly in the pipe dream category, but how would you organize a hillclimb race from zero? My idea for a location is probably nuts because it is in a CA state park, but what the hell, where would I start?

• Is a mile or less too short for a hillclimb? The entire road is a couple of miles long, but still sort of short.
• What sanctioning body would you align with - SCCA, other?
• What kind of budget do you need?
• How many volunteers would you need?
• How many cars would you need to attend in order to have a successful event?
• etc....Long term plan, might take a couple of years to make happen

I think a small bore 2.5L and under race would be cool, but probably too exclusionary. Would definitely want to have an electric class for sure.

The road is actually in pretty piss poor condition. But there is room for parking and staging. Poor driving execution could end very badly due to gravity.

This location is really not very well traveled, but it is right near San Francisco so a billion reasons for protests would exist.

Crazy Ass Location Here

First you need to secure a venue.

First fail = California

Second fail = State park

If you can secure a venue they will come. Your best chance in Calif is private property.

Put the word out at autocross / ralleycross events and make sure your schedule does not conflict.

If there are plenty of turns I don't think a mile is TOO short (although cool if longer).

Remember, even at a 60mph avg speed it takes 1 minute to travel a mile.

your best chance to get it ok'ed in a park is to attach a fund raiser to the event and promote it outside of hillclimb circles. I'd go for clean fresh water in California. you'll want 4-6 scrutineers, 4-6 volunteers doing timing and scoring, 2 finisher, 2 at start, 2-4 at grid and 2-4 for registration. corner workers will be dependent on the course layout.

Why does it have to be in a crappy Californian state park? Would be better to find a chunk of ABANDONED back road. Call the DOT. And, like mentioned before, use a "cause" that all those dumb commiefornians will trip over. All else fails, move somewhere besides the second worst state in America. Michigan being second. (Wait... Did I just piss off west, east AND middle coast?)

In the NE, most hill climbs are on off season ski areas.

Don't forget to make a website. Many young people might skip it if you don't make a website to promote/store info on.

don't forget the insurance for when a participant sets off a forest fire in the state park and sues you for damaging their car.

In reply to oldtin:

Seriously, I was thinking about that. OK crazy idea. keep looking for a new venue.

Look at the NASA Rallysprint in a box to help you organize it.

Short answer? Let someone else do it. My experience is generally there are too many whiny bitches and people wanting to stick their hooti in the punch bowl for me to want to organize so much as a bake sale ever again. YMMV.

IIRC SF region SCCA ended up with Thunderhill because nobody closer to SF wanted them. That should tell you how easy it would be to run something close to the middle of SF itself.

That aside, insurance is going to be horrendous - from memory, the 341 Challenge got cancelled because they couldn't find insurance for less than $25k despite it being an established event and that was too expensive for them. Then you'll have to pay the park, the police or park warden, the ambulance service, the dude with the recovery truck and $DEITY knows who else. IOW this may get a little expensive up front, so how are you planning to at least break even?

OK, folks, I've been involved in one fashion or another, in Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association events since (gulp!) 1972. Here are some observations regarding new events:

1. If you find a site that you feel may work, keeping in mind length (I'd consider 1 mile at minimum) road surface condition, proximity to houses, etc, space at the bottom and top (more later) ; get another set of eyes to look at it. Perhaps an SCCA Solo Safety Steward.

2. You will require paddock space at the bottom and a way to return cars to the bottom from finish. We have one hillclimb (Polish Mountain, Flintstone MD) that has a return road. Most sites do not have that luxury. We have a way for the cars finishing a run to turn around and wait until the race group (let's say 30-50 cars) can return, then go down to paddock and start line.

3. Find local organizations (fire company, service clubs, etc.) to help secure permits (township, county, state) and provide concessions.

4. Insurance coverage may depend if the event is "spectator" or not. Curiously this may not depend if any spectators show up or not.

5. Identify and define spectator areas, keeping in mind possible car "trajectories".

6. Keep the folks happy. Having fire companies, etc., involved are good ways to involve folks with civic pride in the event. Keep in mind, also, that ONE politically powerful person with the proverbial bug up the ass may also hinder or even derail an otherwise well-supported event. (Case in point, and I am not making this up...: We ran an event in rural Schuylkill County PA, and one of the township supervisors owned a dealership and had the school bus contract. He took a school bus to a restaurant out of town and somebody (supposedly in the fire company) called him on it. He retaliated by refusing to approve the event for the coming year and subsequent years. (Rumor has it that the fire company told him if his building caught fire, they'd keep it confined to his building...)

We've run into all of that for our ice races.

Insurance is out of sight.

We had a couple of case where one loud individual can cause an event to be cancelled.

If possible, get the locals involved. A business is a big help.